The Problem with Fire
by BlueOcean01
Summary: Takes place in the episode where Aang learns fire bending and burns Katara. We know he felt guilty, but what if that guilt goes a little too far?


**Author's Note: Sorry, I forgot this the first time I posted. Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. All I own is the plotline of this story. **

**Also, I would like to thank arizony for giving me my first review! It really means a lot to me that people are actually reading this. :3**

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Sokka walked away angrily. Aang had burned Katara! Aang had burned his sister! He marched over towards where Katara had run off. "Aang shouldn't have been that careless with his firebending! He knows that fire brings only destruction and pain…" Sokka thought while gritting his teeth. He had lost his mother to the Fire Nation, and he knew just how much pain fire caused to everybody. The entire population of airbenders had been destroyed, along with almost every waterbender in the Southern Water Tribe! Sokka had failed to notice Aang on the ground crying, begging for forgiveness. In Sokka's mind, all he could see was Aang laughing maniacally while playing around with a fireball. "If he wants to act like Zuko, let him. Aang can be so stupid! I can't believe that the fate of the world rests on the shoulders of that ridiculous kid!" Sokka couldn't hide the thought that was running through his head. "All firebenders are evil. Aang can bend fire, and the Avatar before him was a firebender. Aang can try to act all nice, but he can never hide the truth. As long as he can firebend, he is just as evil as them." Sokka just continued to walk away, leaving Aang alone on the unforgiving ground.

Aang remembered Katara's painful scream, and how she had run away from him in fear. "I deserve pain, as much as I dealt to Katara…" Aang thought sadly. He created the biggest fireball that he could handle and threw it up into the air. He let go of it and it started to fall back down to earth. "Let me burn," Aang managed to whisper before the fireball landed on him. He screamed, but it was empty and full of only sadness. Aang felt his own fire burning his skin, blackening it with soot. He could smell burning flesh, and although it hurt more than anything he had ever felt, he just gritted his teeth and tried to bear the pain. Finally, he just couldn't take it. Air currents rushed around him, creating a vaccum that cut off the fire. Aang didn't just stop at putting out the fire, though. The strain of hurting the one he loved and then burning himself almost to death had made him snap. All of his blue arrow tattoos were glowing, along with his eyes. A tornado had formed around him, uprooting trees nearby and kicking up lots of dirt.

At a stream a little bit away, Katara thrust her burned hands in the water. As she cried, she noticed a bright blue glow. When the glow had cleared, the pain she had felt was completely gone. Katara pulled out her hands out of the water and stared at them, dripping wet and fully healed. The burns that had been crossing her hands were suddenly nonexistant. Her crying slowed and eventually stopped entirely. She heard footsteps behind her and turned around to see Sokka. "Hey, Katara. Are you alright?" Katara held out her hands and Sokka gasped. "What happened? Where are the burns?" He queried impatiently. "I… I think the water healed me," Katara responded as nonchalantly as she could. Sokka looked about ready to ask something else when Katara noticed something above the treeline. Something that looked suspiciously like a fireball. "Sokka… please tell me that's not a Fire Nation attack…" Katara whispered, scared. "No, it can't be. There's only one, and it's kind of small for a professional…" Sokka's eyes suddenly widened. "No… AANG!" He began to run towards the trees looking panicked. Katara quickly got to her feet and followed Sokka into the trees. She was deeply horrified when she heard a bloodcurdling scream that was definantly Aang. "Sokka, what's going on?" She screamed. "That fireball was made by Aang! I think he's trying to burn himself so he can be fairly punished!"

Katara's pace quickened as her mind went blank. All that mattered was getting to Aang, making sure that he was safe. But she was soon snapped out of that when they got close to the clearing where Aang had been left. Trees were cracking and groaning, dirt was flying everywhere, and there was a very distinctive glow coming from up ahead. Katara didn't want to believe it, but as they passed the last few standing trees, the sight made it so that there was no denying it. Aang was in the avatar state and would desteoy everything in his path until he was stopped. But the worst part was the burns. They covered his entire body, and were easily second and third degree. The sight brought tears to Katara's eyes, and she laid her head against Sokka's shoulder. The little shack that had been set up nearby was ripped off of it's foundations and began to swirl around Aang. "I we don't stop him, he'll destroy everyone and everything that lives here," Sokka whispered to Katara. "You're the only one who can stop him. He did this because he thought he hurt you. Show Aang that you're alright and he might stop!" Katara nodded and started to walk forward. Aang turned to face her, and a gust of wind almost blew her off into the trees. But Katara stood strong and called out with everything she had.

"Aang! Stop doing this! I'm fine! I've healed! See?" She held up one palm as a demonstration while she used the other hand to hold on to a tree branch to help to keep her up."Please, Aang! I hate seeing you like this! Remember when we found everyone in the air temple dead? You made it through that, and you can make it through this!" She thought for sure that Aang would calm down, but she almost felt like it was getting stronger. "Aang, I'm so sorry I yelled at you! It was an accident that you burned Katara! I was just being overprotective!" Sokka screamed out. Maybe Katara was hallucinating, but she could have sworn she saw Aang's eyes widen. "Please Aang!" She begged as hard as she could, envisioning all sorts of things she was sorry for and put them into her voice. Her mother had died saving her. Aang's painful backstory. Finding the people in the air temple dead. Everything she could think of went into her plead. Katara felt the winds begin to lessen as Aang slowly stopped glowing and lowered to the ground. She rushed to Aang's side as he looked straight at her. "I'm so sorry Katara. I'll never firebend again." Tears slid down Katara's cheeks as she helped Aang to his feet. She smiled at him, but didn't let out the thing that was inevitable.

When Aang faced the Firelord, he would have to firebend or be killed.


End file.
